Furious BBC staff blast ‘flaccid’ bosses over ‘double standards’ after failing to sack Huw Edwards when he was arrested
BBC staff have blasted “flaccid” bosses over “double standards” after failing to sack Huw Edwards when he was arrested.
The veteran newsreader, 62, admitted making indecent photographs of children earlier this week.
The Beeb later acknowledged it knew he was arrested in November but continued to pay his salary until he resigned in April on “medical advice”.
Furious staff described employing Edwards for another five months, during which time he was paid £200,000, as “indefensible”.
A source told the Sunday Times it would be “impossible to overstate the rage” felt by her fellow colleagues.
“It’s always the same few men being protected but if an ordinary member of staff ran into half the trouble Huw did, they’d be toast,” another BBC presenter claimed.
They added: “And flaccid BBC management yet again aren’t on the front foot.”
A former BBC correspondent also stated: “He should have been sacked upon arrest, since he had already brought the BBC into significant disrepute by then.”
They also described a “toxic relationship” between newsreaders and senior managers and the BBC “ignoring red flags”.
It comes after the corporation’s director-general Tim Davie defended his decision not to sack Edwards, despite knowing he had been arrested in November.
He said that BBC managers “knew it was serious” but had “no specifics, apart from the category of the potential offences”.
Before Edwards resigned, he was the broadcaster’s highest-paid newsreader, with a pay bracket between £475,000 and £479,999 for the year 2023-24, according to the BBC’s latest annual report.
Meanwhile, Davie defended Edwards’ pay rise of £40,000 compared with 2022/23, when he was paid between £435,000 and £439,999.
He told BBC News it was made up of an “inflationary increase”, and work the former broadcaster did at the corporation in February 2023 before any allegations were made.
Davie said the Beeb will “look at all options” in trying to reclaim pay from Edwards, but ruled out doing the same for his pension due to legal reasons.
It also emerged the former chairwoman of the BBC thanked disgraced newsreader Edwards for his “huge contribution” despite knowing he had been arrested in November 2023.
Dame Elan Closs Stephens left the role in March 2024, shortly before Edwards resigned during a confidential disciplinary process.
On July 2, Dame Elan said on Welsh-language radio programme Beti a’i Phobol she was “proud to thank him (Edwards) personally for all his huge contribution and all the skills he has demonstrated that will help those who will succeed him”.
Earlier this week Edwards admitted making indecent photographs, with seven of the 41 images being of the most serious type.
In a statement, the BBC said it was informed the former News at Ten anchor had been arrested over child abuse images on November 8.
It was four months after The Sun reported claims that Edwards had paid a teen £35,000 for explicit images.
We even handed the Beeb a dossier about his behaviour for its investigation.
Last week Edwards was charged with three counts of making indecent images but that stayed a secret until we broke the news on Monday.
A BBC spokesman said: “The BBC is shocked to hear the details which have emerged in court today.
“There can be no place for such abhorrent behaviour and our thoughts are with all those affected.
“The police have confirmed that the charges are not connected to the original complaint raised with the BBC in the summer of 2023.
“Nevertheless in the interests of transparency we think it important to set out some points about events of the last year.
“In November 2023, whilst Mr Edwards was suspended, the BBC as his employer was made aware in confidence that he had been arrested on suspicion of serious offences and released on bail whilst the police continued their investigation.
“At the time, no charges had been brought and the BBC had also been made aware of significant risk to his health.
“Today we have learnt of the conclusion of the police process in the details as presented to the court.
“If at any point during the period Mr Edwards was employed by the BBC he had been charged, the BBC had determined it would act immediately to dismiss him.
“In the end, at the point of charge he was no longer an employee of the BBC.
“During this period, in the usual way, the BBC has kept its corporate management of these issues separate from its independent editorial functions.
“We want to reiterate our shock at Mr Edwards’ actions and our thoughts remain with all those affected.”
BBC plagued by paedos
BY Tom Seaward
THIS is the latest in a long line of paedophile scandals dating back decades to have marred the BBC’s reputation.
Jimmy Savile‘s shocking crimes rocked the corporation in 2012, when the presenter was revealed to be a prolific sex offender.
Savile, who died in 2011 before the allegations became widely known, is thought to have assaulted up to 450 young people, with police recording 31 allegations of rape against him.
His crimes stretched back to 1955 and allegations included the abuse of desperately ill children and necrophilia.
Jonathan King, BBC presenter and music impresario, was jailed for seven years in 2001 for molesting five teenage boys in the 1980s.
Thick of It actor Chris Langham was caged for ten months in 2007 for downloading child sex abuse images and videos.
It’s a Knockout star Stuart Hall got 30 months in 2013 for indecent assaults on girls.
Original Radio 1 presenter Chris Denning was caged for 13 years in 2014 for abusing 26 boys from 1967 to 1987, and got another 13-year sentence two years later.
He had also done jail time in the 1980s for assaulting boys.
And shamed presenter Rolf Harris was jailed for five-and-a-half years in 2014 for molesting four young girls, including one aged seven.